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Hello & Welcome to I.B!

I believe in personal freedom. Financial freedom. I believe in being able to lead your life responsibly. Don't settle for the rat race—this includes schooling, jobs, the things you buy, and everything that keeps you in meaningless motion.

This blog is about a compilation of insights that will help you refine how you see so that you can refine how you do. It will change the way you perceive life. It will amplify your perspective and improve the quality of your decisions.

Will you join me on this journey? If any of these words resonate with you, subscribe and let's figure this out together. Happy reading!

3 Tools to Rise Above Misfortune

What can we do when things fall apart?

There are generally two kinds of difficult problems we face: those we’re struggling through, and those whose outcomes have already happened and are beyond our control. Even though many such outcomes aren’t permanent, they’re often harder to handle. I find that there is generally much more good advice and strategies for facing difficult problems than for dealing with misfortune. Continue exploring

The Myth of Productivity

We have confused being busy with being worthwhile.

Let’s say you wake up already knowing exactly what you want to do. You know that getting something specific done is what would really make progress. Perhaps it’s an important goal, or a matter that really needs to be resolved. But soon you’re flooded with all the other less important, but necessary things to do, and of course, distractions. Before you know it, the day is gone, and the weeks go by. Continue exploring

Three Questions Worth Asking Every Day

We’re drifting.

However, deep down we know we can steer back decisively toward a desired direction if we focus and try hard enough. Sometimes we wake up feeling empowered to make a difference, sometimes we are motivated by a sense of duty, and sometimes we find it hard to make sense of it all.

Very often, when we lose our sense of direction in life it’s due to a shift in our focus, from our inner to the outer world. And of course that’s a spectrum: the demands of work, family, and the cost of living are inescapable. Today our attention is further compromised by the non-stop flood of social media feeds. These feeds aren’t just divisive. They drain us from within, leaving us reactive and vulnerable to manipulation. Continue exploring

Why Being Present Is So Hard

“Many of us have been running all our lives. Practice stopping.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

Have you noticed how we’re less and less present? We know about the importance of being present, and yet it seems we can’t do anything about it. Or maybe we don’t even realize that we’re not. What can we do to be present, and what does it mean to be present? Continue exploring

4 Steps to Reinvent Yourself

Innovation Turned Inward

Perhaps one of the most memorable moments in modern innovation came when Michael Jordan signed with Nike in October 1984. The eventual creation of Air Jordan wasn’t just another shiny new product disguised as innovation. It symbolized, though few realized it at the time, a new dynamic in our relationship with products, where part of our identity, our culture, and our products shape each other. Nike took a leap, and it paid off, Jordan became the GOAT, and together they redefined what it meant to wear a pair of sneakers. But it wasn’t without its hiccups. Continue exploring

Living with Intensity: A Guide to Self, Relationships, and Society

Life is experienced through different levels of intensity. We can feel it on a roller coaster, when we turn up the volume, or when we have an intense conversation. While 100-meter sprints are short and intense, making our hearts pound and our breathing skyrocket, a marathon is more about sustained effort, a slow burn that tests our patience. Of course, sprints are relative. They could be a spicy meal, a single workout, a month-long intensive course, or a year building something that matters. Intensity is in the concentration of effort, not necessarily the duration. Continue exploring

Tapping into Hidden Strength

Unlocking the Strength Beneath Our Struggles

The term post-traumatic stress disorder—the psychological troubles that unfold after severe stressful events—is familiar to many. Far less known, however, is post-traumatic growth: our ability to rise stronger after adversity. I first encountered the term in Kelly McGonigal’s The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It. Continue exploring

How to Build Self-Trust When It Is Difficult

We know that one of the most important keys to success in any relationship is trust. But what about trust in ourselves?

What is our relationship with trust when things get difficult—when self-doubt creeps in, when we face criticism, or when we need to make an important decision? In moments like these, we may begin second-guessing ourselves, feeling small, thin, or loose, like we may float away. Once we recognize where we stand with ourselves and begin to nurture our relationship with trust, we can start to develop inner trust not just as a fleeting feeling, but as a lifelong skill.  Continue exploring

9 Civil Engineering Principles You Can Apply to Your Life

Principles are fascinating. They’re universal truths that guide our decision-making and approach to life. Figuring out the guiding principles within your work or passion forces you to think deeply about their core essence. Exploring how they might apply to life helps strip away excess complexity—revealing not just the unique value within the craft, but offering insight into how we might live better, differently. As a byproduct, it sharpens our ability to synthesize and get to the root of what truly matters. Continue exploring

Holding on and Letting Go

“Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

In childhood, we don’t really own anything. As students, we have yet to achieve something. All youth is a process of learning. Children are naturally interested in learning, playing, and exploring. They hold on to the few people they know well, but there isn’t much for them to let go of. Children are free—they don’t have to worry about holding on or letting go (that’s our hope). They simply live in the present, and we prepare them for the future. And as we grow older, we gradually transition into the business of “accumulating.” Continue exploring

Love Within, Action Beyond

Balancing Self-Love and Selfless Action

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love moves the world. It moves us. It gives our lives meaning. We all know what it means to love and be loved, but it’s much harder to know how to stay in love. However, when it comes to loving ourselves, we don’t know what to do. It’s as if the love we deserve is only validated externally. But eventually, we must realize that to learn to love ourselves and to seek within are fundamental pillars of our well-being and fulfillment in life. Many problems arise throughout our lifetimes when we don’t. We get depressed. We feel lonely. Nothing makes sense and we turn outward for love, creating all sorts of additional problems. Continue exploring

The Truth About Finding Purpose

A Guide to Meaningful Living

After decades of school defining my sense of purpose, the idea of finding myself seemed intriguing. I first came across this concept in Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within, where he discusses the importance of understanding your “why.” He explains that with a strong enough why, we can better navigate emotional struggles, overcome life’s obstacles, and remain committed to our goals. With a clear purpose, he argues, we can always find the “how.” Since then, I’ve read countless books on everything purpose-related: personal calling, starting with why, intrinsic motivation, higher purpose, and the true north—you name it. What I’ve come to realize is that the truth about finding purpose extends far beyond just self-reflection. Continue exploring

Embracing the Paradoxes of Life

Embracing the paradoxes of life reveals how it isn’t linear, nor does it have a single right answer. Life can be better understood through seemingly contradicting truths that challenge our conventional thinking. Each paradox opens us up to a deeper understanding about the inner workings of life, helping us grasp what we otherwise couldn’t. Continue exploring

Reclaiming Virtue, Wisdom, and Meaning in Life

Why Balancing Reason and Wisdom in the Modern Age Matters

“It is difficult to persuade mankind that the love of virtue is the love of themselves.” -Marcus Tullius Cicero

I believe that humanity stands at a critical crossroads. Our obsession with science, technology, and now artificial intelligence is systematically undermining the very essence of what it means to be human. This transformation begins with how we educate our youth—with a definite bias toward scientific rationality. While the Western educational model separated from religious institutions to honor cultural freedom and diversity, it left a void that hasn’t yet been filled, deeply affecting our human experience. Let’s explore how reclaiming virtue, wisdom, and meaning in life can start with understanding why virtue forms the vital foundation of our human development. Continue exploring

A Philosophy of Gratitude

A Gateway to Virtue

“Gratitude is the single most important ingredient to living a successful and fulfilled life.” -Jack Canfield

Gratitude is such a powerful concept, essential to our being and pivotal to our life, that I keep coming back to it. After exploring gratitude through appreciation, expressing it, finding gratitude when it’s hard, and giving, a deeper philosophical question emerged: How does gratitude influence our success, shape our perceptions, relationships, and worldview? Let’s explore. Continue exploring

9 Reading and Writing Principles You Can Apply to Your Life

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” -Dr. Seuss

Reading and writing are fascinating. I believe they are the most important skills you can learn in school. Writing is generally about communicating ideas and stories that transport the audience to a place from which they leave transformed. Less obvious, though, is that writing is also about the writer’s personal transformation. Writing is like a liaison between our inner world and the outer world. Continue exploring

Beyond Inspiration, Willpower, and Hard Work

How to Keep Learning, Growing, and Moving Forward

There are moments in life that just happen. When we’re young, we can learn a second language effortlessly. As adults, sometimes we feel inspired and suddenly tap into our creativity. We want to believe that all it takes to achieve important things is willpower. We think, if only we tried hard enough. We push ourselves to get things done through sheer hard work, but eventually we relapse into our old ways. Making progress is anything but linear, and to sustain it, we need a better approach. We must go beyond inspiration, willpower, and hard work. Continue exploring

Don’t Be Afraid to Make a Fool of Yourself

“A mistake that makes you humble is better than an achievement that makes you arrogant.” – Unknown

When I was in second grade, I was sort of a class clown. I remember feeling proud of myself because I could make the kids laugh, and I thought I was making an otherwise boring class more fun. Of course, that didn’t go well. I was shamed for being disruptive to the class. Many such things shape us in many areas of life—molding us to conform to societal norms and expectations. We grow up to seek external validation and recognition. We go on a quest to be smart. Unfortunately, we become afraid to make a fool of ourselves for the rest of our lives. Continue exploring